Jean Bonnassier

Jean Bonnassier (sometimes spelled Bonnasier or Bonassier) is an architect active in Montpellier in the second half of the 17th century. His dates of birth and death are not known. The Monuments historiques entry names him as the principal master builder of the Château de Castries, rebuilt for the marquis René-Gaspard de La Croix de Castries: he is mentioned on the site in 1663 and 1664. He is therefore credited, at least in part, with the classical residence with Montpellier-style façades that dominates the plain, with its two wings set at right angles and its corner pavilions. Montpellier archives also show him working on religious architecture: on 22 July 1668, he signed with the churchwardens of Notre-Dame-des-Tables the prix-fait (fixed-price contract) for the high altarpiece, for 3,000 livres. His drawings served as the model for the work, a restrained, architectural decoration, carried out with the master masons Antoine Armand and Pierre Moynier and received in 1673. This altarpiece, destroyed during the Revolution, inspired that of the Récollets in Sommières.